Three former prime ministers to accompany Stephen Harper to pay final respects to Nelson Mandela

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper leaves today for South Africa to join leaders from around the world who are paying final respects to Nelson Mandela.

Harper will attend a public memorial for Mandela on Tuesday in Johannesburg, as well as his lying in state in Pretoria on Wednesday.

Harper will be joined by three of his predecessors, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chretien and Kim Campbell, all of whom were invited to fly on the prime ministerial plane. Joe Clark, meantime, is already in Africa and will join the Canadian delegation when it arrives in South Africa.

As a lawyer before running for office, Redford worked for Mandela in the early 1990s in efforts to rebuild South Africa’s legal system and lay the groundwork for the first all-race elections that led to him becoming president.

Mulroney spearheaded Canada’s efforts to free Mandela from prison and pressure South Africa to end apartheid, while Chretien was prime minister when Mandela was granted honourary Canadian citizenship in 2001.

Mandela died on Thursday at the age of 95.

His body will lie in state from Wednesday through Friday.

A state funeral for the former South African president is planned for next Sunday.